At Great Lakes Chapter meet today I picked up an interesting project...consisting of a prewar twin, minus rewind on a WD4S tower...a lot of fun for $10
as it is stuck tignt. I hope to do better on this
one than a prior stuck prewar model so slow and
gentle it shall be. I am tempted to purchase a can
of Kroil just to see if it really is as good as
it is said to be. Any suggestions? Grease gun led
to grief on a prior prewar twin...a good technique
for most stuck motors but if piston does not move
I found top of cylinder would. I think a good photo
series is in offing...if anyone can give me detailed
step by step on how to post I will do so. Unless
some more parts show up probably salvage but never
say never.
Louis
Louis

Had a little time today so I headed downstairs with
camera...took some pictures, removed tank,and emergency rope plate. I have arrived at following
conclusions:
1)someone had an early prewar twin crankcase...from 1940 judging by early pattern carburetor
2)they also had a WD4S with a bad powerhead
3)which are prewar parts and which are post war parts
is not clear and will require some study of parts and
parts manual...some parts same too.
What is very clear is that the assembly sat outside for a very long time...no grease or oil and every bit of iron and steel rusted tight.
Most would say I wasted my $10 and cheated the scrap dealer of his lawful claim. My experience with WB6
will temper my methods so results should be more
productive and less distructive.
If the prewar aluminum rods are still in place even
taking off ratchet nut will require immobilizing
flywheel to avoid bending them. A lot to consider
before picking the tool and method to use.
Thanks for the solvent formulae
If anyone can post today's pictures here I will email
pictues plus comment on each
Louis

Here is a link to understanding how to use BB code to insert pictures, video, and links on the forum.
Here is the link

In posting your own pictures, you first have to upload them to an image hosting site such as picasa web albums, Flickr, or photobucket. You can right click on the photo and copy and paste the image location to put it in your post.

Reluctant as I am to overload brain with new technology information in this case there is no
escaping it. Be patient, pictures may take me a while.

About early Kiekhaefer twins...consider the following
information...early Kiekhaefer twins used the
Tillotson MS 113A carburetor...K4, K5 and WA6
You might expect models that used that carburetor would be 1940 models AND the KB4 and WB6 that used the Tillotson AJ3A or AJ8 carburetors would be 1941 models. NOT so simple...
if my information is correct MS 113A equipped twins
were both 1940 and 1941 models. The WB6 is listed
as only a 1941 model and the KB4 was made in 1941
and 1946 ...again not quite as it seems...Kiekhaefer produced at least some motors for 1942 selling season and the 1946 KB4 has a different crankcase and has
needle bearing lower cover.
Current thinking is the powerhead of the mixed part motor could be from K4,K5 or WA6 of either 1940 or 1941.No mystery as to rest...all postwar WD4S
I like the detective work aspect of working on old outboards as much as the mechanical work.
I have no idea how this will develope. I can see
a reconstructed early twin if the right parts
come along.
Lastly, a curious hole in leg has mne wondering it it got shot at.
Louis

Looked at tech page on this site and found the rewind
narrows it down to either KB5 or WB6 as the other
prewar twins were rope start. Also conflicts with
other source as to whether suffix "B" use to
indicate a 1941 model.
As always the more you think you know the less you
really know.
Louis

Got in some dirt under fingernails time today:
a)removed clamp assembly
b)removed pivot pin
c)removed nut and screw securing gearcase to leg
d)found water line stuck to gearcase
e)removed front cover from crankcase
f)noticed needle bearing rods instead of plain bearing aluminum rods...
g)applied oil to all places where it might do some good
h)took pictures
Project is becoming more and more a history lesson
with a few pages missing. At some time someone put a lot of effort into this assembly of parts. Later it
spent years outside.Rain and snow washed off every bit of oil and grease on exterior,rusted everything that would rust and oxidized everything else.
Things are coming apart fairly easily so far.
Louis

Got a little constructive deconstruction in today
Used thin knife blade and screw drivers to separate
lower cylinder from crankcase...piston was low in
bore so it came apart without too much of a fight.
Started out by going around the joint between cylinders and crankcase with small hammer and thin
knife blade...lower cylinder moved a little bit but
upper cylinder did not...as gap developed used larger
screwdrivers and the as pry bars.
The upper cylinder has piston at top of stroke so it
will be a good candidate for the grease gun as piston
is well above both intake and exhaust ports.
Taking a digtal record as it goes along.
Louis

Louis, this is an interesting project. As you say, the grease gun method can result in damage - launched head, bent rod or crankshaft, etc. Someone recently suggested making a sparkplug/tire stem and use compr
air. This forces the solvent past the rings. Sounds a lot safer than grease to me. Gotta make one of those.
Good luck and keep us posted on progress. JW in Dixie

Compressed air is in my opinion an invitation to unfortunate happenings....if grease forces piston
down it will be in a slow and controlled manner...
the volume of one stroke of grease at a time...
if pressure can escape it goes to zero/
On the other hand compressed air or any gas may suddenly move the piston and if air escapes thru
a port or break it may carry withit grease,oil or
broken parts at high velocity.It is also possible
that the cylinder may go flying if not bolted
to crankcase...I always unbolt so cylinder may
move away from crankcase...if rod if frozen to crankshaft this avoids more damage...same story if both cylinders are stuck.
I have burst a cylinder with grease without any
danger...I would not want to be around if a cylinder
is burst with any compressed gas. What do you think
happens to oil in cylinder when grease gun is attached
an pumped up...I see no advantage to use of compressed
air AND significant increase in hazzards.
Louis

Got out grease gun and moved piston down to where
grease started coming out exhaust ports...did not
use cover plate or oiled tissue paper...piston at
top of travel...no room.
Removed grease gun and got out my "rest of the way"
kit...4 pieces of 1/4 x 20 threaded rod 8 nuts and 8 washers (note: early twins use 1/4 x 20 screws to fasten cylinder/water jacket to crankcase...later
twins use a larger size)(insert threaded rod down thru cylinder mounting holes and spin on washers and nuts, thread rods into tapped holes in crankcase,lock in place with one nut and spin the outher nut up against bottom of cylinder)After setting up tightened
nuts alternately side to side and end to end...
every couple rounds of tightening piston moved
down with a loud snap...a very stubborn piston
but the force exerted by the nut/screw arrangement
is STRONG enough to overcome a sticky piston...
maybe not enough to break loose a stuck piston but
more than adequate to finish removing piston from
cylinder.
Rod was frozen to crankshaft...put on flywheel and
rocked back an forth and rod came loose so crankshaft
could rotate freely...need to be able to move
pistons up and down so they cab be removed
which gives access to rod cap screws.
So far this has been a routine rusted stuck powerhead
responding well to the usual methods and tools.
The parts so far seem to be on the low end of
quality as far as reuse is concerned.
I have seen worse.
Louis

A little more time to work on teardown...after removing pivot pin and pivot saddle and friction
plate it was time to see about separating the
foot from the leg...after considerable prying and
wiggling foot refused to separate completely...copper
water line corroded into aluminum foot (gear case part)
At this point there are several options:
a) leave it be
b) cut the water line
c) try heat beat and !@#$%
d) remove the flare so copper water line is free to
part from leg
Tried C no go.
Went to D...removed flare by use of small punch and
hammer to gradually reduce diameter then used a larger
punch to force it thru into interior of leg...then pulled foot (gear case) with water line down and away
from leg. Leg will go to welding shop to patch hole
in side of casting.
Water line stuck in foot may respond to torch...it did
not seem too impressed with electric heat gun.
Louis

Impatience leads to a bad ending today. I was stripping the block of pistons,rods and removing
crankshaft which went well except bearings were
rusty from end to end on crankshaft and crankcase
and pistons pretty much junk...not too surprising
in a stuck motor.
The crankcase was a surprise...clearly a prewar
pattern crankcase,BUT,it had needle bearingstop and bottom! Also had unusual seal...a metal ring pressed over a ring of seal material. Beyond my experience.
After pressing crankshaft reed block assembly I set
up to press the bearings. I normally press bearings
into case...because of the metal ring over the seal
I had to try to press the bearings out from the inside
of the crankcase using a round shaft...this required
"nose" of crankcase to be well supported...as I pumped press something went wrong...crankcase end
broken out...unrepairable.
Not many good parts in this motor to begin with and
now even fewer.
Louis

An excess of misc. parts from both
Mercury and Wizard teardowns are cluttering up my wife's basement. Not a lot of anything but some
of a lot of things...maybe even what you need.
Mostly mechanical things like rods, pistons,cylinders,driveshafts. If I have what you need price will be reasonable.
Louis
email inquiry

At meet today a new project came my way...KD3S missing
starter assembly and stuck...love the little Kiekhaefers regardless of brand.
A fellow member of Great Lakes Chapter read that I
was in need of a single lower unit and brought in
this little gem. We will get along with a little help from our friends. Does anyone out there have the
cast aluminum bonnet type starter assembly?
Louis